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JAKARTA: President Joko Widodo met representatives of the Papua People’s Council (MRP) and West Papua People’s Council at Bogor Presidential Palace in West Java Friday to discuss the carving out of new autonomous regions in Papua (pic).

In a virtual statement, which was accessed from Jakarta on Friday, Jayapura district head Mathius Awoitauw, who represented the delegation, lauded the meeting with the President.

“First of all, we (would like to) express our appreciation and gratitude to Mr. President for fulfilling our request for an audience today,” Awoitauw said.

The meeting was held to clarify conflicting information on the implementation of Law No. 2 of 2021 on Special Autonomy in Papua Province, which also includes new autonomous regions.

In Papua province, the new autonomous regions include South Papua, Papua Pegunungan Tengah, and Papua Tengah.

He said the plan to form new autonomous regions is the pure aspiration of Papuan people for which they have struggled for a long time. For instance, the people of South Papua have struggled for their aspirations since 20 years ago.

“So, this is not something that has emerged all of a sudden. But this is the pure aspiration of the people of South Papua, Tabi, Saereri, La Pago, and Mee Pago,” he added.

He said the aspiration was driven by the idea of customary territories and not street demonstrations.

The people of Papua hope the creation of new autonomous regions will accelerate the effort to promote people’s welfare in Papua and West Papua.

He said the special autonomy law binds the entire community in Papua and provides legal certainty to customary communities to manage their spaces based on the seven customary regions in Papua land.